


The Angel's Kiss: A Story of the Fifth Bookkeeper

by Geonn



Series: The Bookkeeper's Archive [3]
Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Epilogue, Gen, Humor, Missing Scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-30
Updated: 2012-09-30
Packaged: 2017-11-15 09:35:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,584
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/525841
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Geonn/pseuds/Geonn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Post-7x05: The Fifth Bookkeeper is assigned an unusual mission.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Angel's Kiss: A Story of the Fifth Bookkeeper

Some might have called the apartment tiny. I, on the other hand, saw it as an economical use of space. No inch wasted, and the room contained nothing unnecessary. Two large windows dominated one wall, the curtains drawn back to light the room and incidentally also revealing the city outside. The woman who had ventured into my shop took the chair away from her desk and turned it to face the living room.

"Have a seat."

"I prefer to stand," I said.

"Suit yourself." She walked past me and sat on the couch, arms stretched across the back. Her hair was streaked with gray and her face was lined with age, but she carried herself with the confidence of a much younger woman. She wore a tartan skirt that reached her shoes and a wool sweater, the uniform of a granny in this part of existence, but I got the impression she used it as a disguise. There was a lot of fight left in this woman no matter what the calendar said. 

I was still dressed as I'd been when she ventured into my shop. A toga that left my sides bare, revealing I wore nothing underneath except for a pair of very brief shorts. I liked my body, my fifth, and I had no hesitation about showing it off. My hair hung loose around my shoulders as she perused me. She was a vexing woman, the way she eyed me, the way she seemed to be filling her mind with information about me before venturing a question. 

Finally, she spoke. "So. You're just called... the Bookkeeper?"

"That's right. Book for short."

She narrowed her eyes and pursed her lips at me. "Hm." 

There was something in her expression that told me she knew more than she should have. That she understood me in a way that she shouldn't. I'd felt it the moment she walked into my TARDIS, which is disguised as a dark and dusty neighborhood bookshop. The way she looked at me and ran her eyes over the room like she was looking for some tell-tale. My clerk Rosalba asked if she needed any help finding something, but this woman was on a mission of her own. She wandered the stacks for a while and then asked to speak the owner. When I revealed myself, she asked if I would be willing to come back to her apartment for a "special project."

Now I simply stood and waited. I didn't know how much she knew, but I wasn't going to volunteer any information. Finally she leaned forward and opened a drawer. I saw several copies of the same book within, and she held one out to me. I stepped forward and took it, turning it over to read the author name. Melody Malone. I'd heard of her. Not a household name by any means, but definitely well-known by those with discerning taste. More than the usual hardboiled noir, it was a magnificent combination of science-fiction, fantasy, adventure, romance... 

I read the title out loud. "The Angel's Kiss: A Melody Malone Mystery." I looked at her and raised an eyebrow. "Most people want me to find books for them. I thought I was coming here to get a list of hard-to-find titles."

"Oh, someone is looking for this. He just doesn't know it yet."

I hrmphed and thumbed through the book. "This isn't exactly hard-to-find. If he wants it, all he has to do is go down the block or write the publisher."

"This isn't exactly a 'go down the block' sort of fella. I think you know what I mean."

She was smiling, and again I felt that odd surety that she knew something about me. "This is going to be difficult, isn't it?"

"Oh, yes." She stood up and crossed her arms over her chest, eyeing me from the other side of the table. "That book needs to be delivered to the Savoy Hotel in London."

"There's air mail."

"Delivered to the Savoy Hotel in London on the sixth of August, 1889."

I pursed my lips. She raised her eyebrows. I looked down at the book and thumbed through the pages again.

"Quite an impressive journey for such a little book."

"It's important."

"I gathered that." I lowered the book and faced her full-on. "Why me? What makes you think I can pull off this feat?"

The woman began to pace in a circle, running her eyes over me. "Your fashion sense. You've got a British accent. You have a crazed look in your eye." Her orthopedic shoes clicked on the hardwood of the apartment floor and then softened when she crossed back onto the carpet. "I'd never seen your shop before, but everyone else says it's been there for ages. Long as they can remember, but I know that isn't true. No matter what translation a book in your shop was, I could read it."

I couldn't help smiling. No wonder this woman liked detective novels. "Quite peculiar."

"But none of that matters compared to the other thing I noticed." She stood in front of me and looked into my eyes. "Your shop is bigger on the inside."

"Oh, that's just decorating tricks."

"Oh, really."

"Hm."

We stared each other down for a long moment. I was about to allow her to win when the apartment door opened. I heard someone fumbling with a bag, keys dropped on the hallway table, and a man called out, "Darling! I'm home... oh." I saw him from the corner of my eye, a tall and lanky fellow with short hair and wearing a lab jacket. "Um. Hi. We have a guest...?"

"Yes," his wife said. "She's going to deliver the book for us."

I smiled. "I never agreed to that."

"Didn't you?"

She had a point. "Savoy Hotel, August, 1889. And who shall be the lucky recipient?"

"There's a note folded in the back of the book that describes the man who needs it. Place it into the pocket of his jacket and try to make sure he doesn't notice."

I laughed and shook my head. "Oh, the things I've gotten into and out of men's pockets."

"Well, when you dress like that..." She looked down at me and then ticked up an eyebrow again. 

Oh, I liked this woman. "I think I can handle that. Anything else I should know?"

"Uh," the man said, "yeah. Savoy... opening night. Take a weapon of some sort."

"Always do, sweetheart. A woman is nothing without her toys." I tucked the book into my belt. "Rest assured, Mrs. Williams, the book will reach its destination. You have my word."

She smiled. "Oh, I know. I just didn't know how it got there until I walked into your shop. So how much do I owe you?"

I shook my head and turned to face the husband for the first time. Quite handsome, in his way, and he was taking great care not to notice how much of my skin was on display. I winked, and he became flustered, and his wife chuckled. "Consider it a gift for a fellow bibliophile." Mrs. Williams escorted me to the door and her husband hovered behind her. I turned and met her eye. "You may think you've got me all figured out, ma'am, but you're not as mysterious as you hope. I knew you were special the moment you walked into my shop."

She hesitated, then cupped the back of my head and kissed my lips. Her husband made a strangled noise, whether of protest or appreciation I'll never know, because she released me and said, "Give that to 'im for me, will ya?"

"Maybe I'll be selfish and keep it for myself."

"Mm. Cheeky."

I grinned as I stepped out into the hall. "Expect nothing less, dear. See you sometime." 

As I walked off, I heard Mrs. Williams through the door. "Oh, come on, you're just sorry you didn't get a go." I couldn't help but laugh.

#

Zygons. They could have warned me it was _Zygons_. Ash pirouetted through the sky, alighting on the ground like big dark snowflakes. A very young Mrs. Williams and her husband sat outside the ruins of the hotel flanking a lanky man in a jacket. I knew who it was. Of course I knew who it was. Time Lords always know when they're looking at kin, so I had to be especially careful that I wasn't noticed. Police and medics were milling about, so I was able to get close enough to them to place the book in the Doctor's pocket. If his jacket was anything like some of the clothes in my wardrobe, it would take him a few months to find it.

I walked swiftly away before the Doctor could get suspicious, but I couldn't risk a look back. Mrs. Williams was looking at me, head to one side, and I winked at her with a reassuring smile. I was dressed in the uniform of a police officer and my hair was up, but there was no doubt she would one day recognize me as the owner of a mysterious little shop on the corner. It didn't matter. 

The evidence she'd gathered to identify me as a Lady of Time was daunting already. One more clue wasn't going to make any difference whatsoever.

I pushed my helmet lower on my brow and lengthened my stride. My TARDIS was waiting, and there were so many more books waiting to be found.


End file.
